


Capes are Cool (but they don't make a hero)

by chantelle82



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Friends, First Kiss, Fluff, Jealousy, M/M, Mutual Pining, all growing up together, capes capes capes, follows them from kids to teenagers, oblivious boys, tropes galore, very brief Derek/Kate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-23
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 07:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/771556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chantelle82/pseuds/chantelle82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how Stiles and Derek fall in love and became heroes - to each other</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Scott and Stiles – 8, Derek – 10_

 

It was early afternoon and Scott and Stiles had rushed home from school to begin exploring the woods behind Stiles’ house.  Mrs. Stilinski gave them each a kiss on the forehead and told them to be home before five, while ignoring Stiles’ protests that she was ‘totally unfair’.  How was he ever going to get to have adventures if he had to stay at home?  Harry Potter got to go to Hogwarts; the Pevensies went to Narnia.  Stiles _needed_ the woods. 

But his arguments made absolutely no difference; pulling Scott out of the house, they'd jumped over the back fence and into the woods.  They’d spent the last fifteen minutes walking while Stiles told Scott one unbelievable story after the other.

“Nuh uh, no way Stiles.  You can’t die from picking your nose!”

“I saw it on T.V. last night.  This kid put his finger too far up there and he picked out his _brain_ , Scott,” Stiles said as he held his arms up in emphasis.

“I’m gonna ask my mom when I get home.”

“Don’t believe anything she says, dude.  She won’t care if _you_ do it, ‘cause you’ve got no brains in there to pick out!”

Scott punched his friend in the arm.  “I do so.  I got four points higher in that spelling test than you did.  _You’re_ the one with no brains.”

“Whatever,” Stiles said annoyed.  He had totally known all the words the night before, but like always during the test he couldn’t stop thinking about why Superman was called ‘Superman’.  And then _that_ led him to thinking how there was a moment that all the superheroes had to sit down and design their costume and then...Mr. Harris had said pencils down and Stiles never finished the test.

“Hey!  What’s that?” Stiles looked up to see Scott pointing to what looked like an old wooden shed.  It was covered in leaves and vines and was…completely _awesome_.  The two boys ran up to it and Stiles was about to open the door when Scott stopped him.

“What if there’s, like, spiders or snakes or a _murderer_ in there?  I don’t want to be murdered.”

“Good point,” Stiles said, taking off his backpack and pulling out two plastic cylinders.  He handed one to Scott and then with a forceful flick of his wrist the tube extended into a fifteen-inch light saber.  “Now we’re ready.”

Scott nodded his head and they both raised their plastic light sabers as Stiles carefully opened the door.  There was a strong smell of dampness and stale air, but it was in a remarkably good condition for being in the middle of the woods.

“This is _so_ going to be the best secret hideout ever!” Stiles said as he ripped through a spider’s web, using his very best Star Wars sound effect.  Scott looked around at the assortment of bugs that scattered out of sight as they stepped over the slightly rotting floorboards.

“We’re gonna need some bug spray…and a broom.”

Stiles rolled his eyes.  Scott was always so focused on the _details._

 

*****

 

Derek was in heaven.  The moment he’d found the abandoned shed in the woods he pumped his fist in the air – and then quickly shot a look in all directions to make sure _nobody_ saw that expression of enthusiasm.  He had a reputation to protect.

As Derek quickly pushed open the weather-damaged door, he jumped back in anticipation of any woodland creatures or creepy-crawlies that might not like their home being invaded.  But there was nothing; he took a few deep relief-filled breaths.  There had recently been a disastrous run-in with a squirrel that he was desperately trying to forget – if his horrible older sister would let him. 

It was perfectly normal to be slightly freaked out if you’re lying in the backyard reading and suddenly a sharp-clawed _rodent_ climbs up your leg.  Unfortunately, Laura had been sitting on the back porch and had a front row seat to Derek releasing a high-pitched scream and running as fast as he could back into the house.  Now, the Devil Hale had taken to taping close-up photos of squirrels in all manner of places – behind the bathroom door, on the back of the kitchen cupboard, on his bedside table – anywhere that provided the most shock factor for her poor brother.

Scowling at the memory, Derek took a wary step into the small room.  It was surprisingly free of cobwebs, dirt and anything else he had expected to find in there.  His excitement returned as he thought about how great this place was going to be for him.  There would be no interruptions from annoying family members constantly bursting into his room; he would be able to sit and read all of his books – in peace.  Derek pulled out his copy of Treasure Island and then used his bag as a makeshift pillow as he got comfortable on the floor.

He had managed to reach ‘The Black Spot’, when the sound of feet running through fallen leaves interrupted him.

“You did _not_ just see Bigfoot, Stiles.  There’s no such thing.”

“I did!  He was waving at me.  I never told you this, but my dad saved a Bigfoot from a hunter and now they look out for all us Stilinskis.”

Derek sat up as the voices reached the door of _his_ secret hideout.  When it opened, two kids burst in clutching beanbags to their chest and carrying backpacks on their backs.

“Get out,” he said in his – hopefully – scariest voice.  Derek definitely didn’t want two _babies_ trespassing on his turf.

“Who are you?” The dark-haired kid asked, while the brown-haired one said, “You get out!  This is our place.  Don’t make us fight you!”

Derek smirked.  “What are you two nerds gonna do?

“My dad’s the Sheriff,” the brown-haired kid stated proudly.  “He’s gonna put you in jail and make you eat worms.”

“I don’t think your dad would do that, Stiles,” the darker-haired one noted.  The other kid – Stiles – shot his friend a ‘whose side are you on?’ look.

Hearing Stiles’ dad was Sheriff Stilinski did make Derek just a little bit worried.  Only a little.  He’d seen the Sheriff around town – with his jacket, sunglasses and gun, the guy did look scary.

“I’m Scott,” the kid said as he dropped the beanbag he’d been carrying and slid off his backpack.  “We found this place a couple of days ago.  Cleaned it up pretty good, don’t ya think?  You shoulda seen the spiders!” He finished as he sat down.

“Don’t _talk_ to him!  He’s our enemy, Scott.  We’ve got to get him to go away!” Stiles gestured wildly.  Scott only shrugged his shoulders and reached into his bag for a candy bar.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Derek said as he fixed a determined glare on Stiles.  After the excitement of finding this place, he was desperate not to lose it now.  He really hoped Stiles couldn’t tell that Derek was silently playing, ‘Please don’t get the Sheriff, please don’t get the Sheriff’, on a constant loop in his head.

Stiles studied him closely for a few more seconds.  “Whatever.  Do what you want.”  The kid settled into his own beanbag and opened a bag of Skittles.  “Every superhero needs a bad guy, and you’re gonna be ours.  We _will_ defeat you.”

Derek shrugged his shoulders and went back to his book.

 

*****

 

“We are the coolest!”  Scott said as he jumped over a tree root.

“I know!  Derek is gonna be so jealous when he sees these,” Stiles puffed out as he ran beside his friend.

They had just come home from Jackson – crapface – Whittemore’s birthday party.  A superhero birthday party.  Stiles’ mom had made both boys a cape each – red for Stiles, blue for Scott – and they were the greatest things the two friends had ever seen.

Stiles and Scott ran through the woods, their capes flowing behind them until they reached their secret hideout.  The door was open, so they knew that the older boy was already there.

Despite Stiles’ numerous schemes, he’d not been able get rid of stupid Derek Hale.  He just wouldn’t go away.  And Scott was no help, _at all_.  Not to mention, his dad said he wouldn’t put Derek in jail.  Stiles had then asked if he could at least make the guy eat worms; his dad just patted him on the head and went to work.  No help, _at all_.

“Look at this, Derek!” Scott exclaimed as he spun around to show off his cape.  “Isn’t it awesome?”

Derek looked up from his book – The Mysterious Island – shrugged, and went back to reading.  Scott’s shoulders sagged.

“You suck,” Stiles said to Derek before turning to his friend.  “Come on, let’s go outside and test them out.”

“What do you mean?” Scott said as he allowed himself to be led back out into the woods.  Stiles pointed up to the shed roof.

“We’re gonna fly!”

“I don’t wanna do that, Stiles.”

Stiles ignored Scott as he looked for a way to get on top of the shed.  There were enough grooves to climb up the window pretty easily, but getting to the roof was a little harder.

“What do you mean test-“ Derek started as he came out to see what the boys were up to.  Stiles used the uneven boards of the shed wall to lever himself slowly onto the roof.  “Stiles, are you stupid?  Get down from there!”

Stiles stood up straight and held his arms up in front of him – Superman style.  “No way.  Just you watch, I’m gonna fly to that branch there…and then you’re gonna wish you had a cape too!”

“I’m gonna tell your mom,” Scott said, sounding scared.

Fine, Stiles was going to have to show them both.  He took a few steps backwards, sucked in a deep breath and then bounded off of the roof.  He heard the two guys below him shout out his name as he sailed through the air.  It felt fantastic.  Right up until he hit the ground.

“Stiles!  Are you okay?” Scott shouted as he ran up to his best friend.

“You idiot!”  Derek snarled as he rushed over as well.

Stiles felt like he hurt all over, but he _was not_ going to let the other two guys see that.  He was a superhero; pain wouldn’t stop him.  But when he tried to put his weight on his right ankle, it collapsed under him and he fell back down to the ground.

“Your ankle looks lumpy,” Scott said as he leaned down to have a closer look.  Stiles just nodded; he couldn’t speak.  The pain that was shooting from his foot really, really hurt.  More than anything, he didn’t want to cry in front of Derek.

“Idiot,” Derek said a little more softly as he studied Stiles’ face.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go and get your dad.”  Scott jumped up and was about to run back to his house when Derek stopped him.

“It’s alright.  I’ve got him.”  Stiles felt Derek slip his arms around the back of his knees and shoulders, take a deep breath, and then heave him up.

“Woah!  You are really strong,” Scott said in amazement as he watched Derek slowly carry his friend through the woods.  Stiles remained silent – partly from the pain, partly from the fact that he’d gone from being Superman to Lois Lane in a matter of minutes.

 

*****

 

It had been a quiet couple of days for Derek; he’d had the secret hideout all to himself.  Scott and Stiles hadn’t been back to the woods since the day Stiles had been an idiot and jumped off the roof. 

A few hours after Derek had carried Stiles back to his mom, the Sheriff had turned up at the Hale house – to shake his hand.  It’d been very weird, and Derek had felt especially awkward when Mr. Stilinski had said how proud he was of him for looking out for his son.

But that had been a week ago and Derek hadn’t seen either Stiles or Scott since then.  He found that he kind of missed them.  Maybe.  He thought he would like the peace and quiet, but it was too strange.  He’d grown used to the sound of crinkling candy wrappers and the constant movement that was Scott and Stiles.

Derek was interrupted from his thoughts by the creaking of the shed door.  He looked up to see Stiles standing there, his sprained ankle still bandaged.

“What are you doing here?  You shouldn’t be walking on that, idiot,” Derek said with little heat in his voice.

“I…uh…” Stiles shuffled into the room, limping slightly.  “My mom said it wasn’t fair that me and Scott had one of these so she made one for you too,” he rushed out before practically throwing a piece of fabric into Derek’s arms.

Derek looked down at the ‘gift’.  It was obviously supposed to be a cape, but it looked _nothing_ like the ones the other boys had been wearing.  The material appeared to have been crudely cut from what seemed to be a Spiderman bed sheet – two pieces of elastic had messily been stapled to what Derek assumed was supposed to be the neck.  A large capital D had been scrawled in felt-tip marker on the back.

Derek glanced up to see the anxious and expectant gaze that Stiles was giving him.  He looked back down at the worst-looking cape he had ever seen and decided it was his favourite thing in the world.  “It’s really great, Stiles.  Tell your mom I love it.”

Stiles’ cheeks flushed and he gave Derek one of his huge smiles that lit up his entire face.  “Cool….Cool, I’ll tell her…I, um…I better go.”  He didn’t wait for an answer before he awkwardly limped/rushed out of the shed.

Derek waited a few minutes before he stood up and loosely tied the elastic of the cape around his neck.  Today was a really good day.


	2. Chapter 2

_Scott and Stiles – 13, Derek – 15_

 

It was quiet in the shed as the three boys sat on the floor, studying for their final exams before summer vacation.  Derek idly tapped his pen on his book, as his mind drifted to his plans for that night.  A date…with Kate Argent.  A date he _really_ didn’t want to have.

It had been a long time coming, though.  Kate had made it pretty obvious what she wanted from him – with all the flirting and the tight, revealing clothes she would wear when she came to support him at his swim meets.  And he’d managed to ignore it…until the day he walked into the locker room, after prying Kate’s arms from around his neck, and heard the other members of the swim team whispering and making snide remarks about the weird things Derek did in the woods with two kids.  He’d walked right out and immediately asked Kate out on a date.

Derek stopped tapping his pen and snuck a look at the two guys sitting opposite him.  Scott and Stiles.  He didn’t know how it had happened, but if he were to be honest with himself – Derek would call those two his best friends.  For years, the three of them had been meeting every free afternoon they had in their ‘secret hideout’.

“You are really weird today, dude.”  He hadn’t even noticed that Stiles had been staring at him.  “Have all those steroids finally killed the last brain cells you had?”  Derek rolled his eyes at the ‘joke’; six months ago, he’d had a growth spurt and bulked up a little, and that was the best thing they could come up with.

“My I.Q. drops every time I hang out with you losers.”  Derek punctuated his words by throwing his pen at Stiles’ chest.

“Don’t lie.  You’re gonna totally miss me while I’m at my dad’s.  You’ll be counting down the days on your calendar until I come back,” Scott said as he let his textbook slide off of his stomach and onto the ground.

“I think you’ve got me mixed up with your lesser half over there.”  The lesser half scowled and flicked the pen back at Derek’s forehead – it found it’s target.

“Oh, hasn’t he told you yet?  Stiles said he’s gonna finally complete Operation Romancing Lydia this summer.  No time to miss me,” Scott scoffed.

Lydia Martin.  Derek tried to cover his scowl by picking up his pen off of the floor.  It had been _three_ years – three years of listening to Stiles spout his love for the ‘strawberry blonde goddess’.  From what he could tell, the girl didn’t even know that Stiles existed.  That didn’t seem to make a difference.

“I’ve got a plan.  My princess won’t be able to resist once I s-“

“I have a date tonight,” Derek rushed out.  He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t told his friends already, but now it really seemed the perfect time.

“Awesome!” Scott exclaimed as he leaned over to fist-bump him. 

Stiles leaned back, rubbed his hand over the back of his head and eyed Derek suspiciously.  “Who’d wanna date you?”

“Who _wouldn’t_ want to date me?” Derek shot back, defensively.  “If you have to know, it’s Kate Argent.”

“Woah, dude!  Isn’t she-“ Scott began before Stiles interrupted him.

“The chick who practically rubs herself down all over him at swim meets?  Yeah.  Great choice, Derek,” he finished snarkily.  Before Derek could reply, Stiles stood up and stuffed his books back into his bag.  “I forgot I promised Dad I’d help him go grocery shopping.  I’ve gotta go.”  He left without waiting for any goodbyes.

Derek was a little confused by Stiles’ sudden departure, and it must have shown on his face.  “I don’t think it’s anything you said, Derek,” Scott awkwardly began, “He’s been really weird lately.  I think it’s-“

“Don’t worry about it, Scott.”  Derek had also noticed the change in Stiles recently.  But the guy always got weird when Scott was going to visit his dad for longer than a month.  “Pass me over your book – I’ll quiz you on those equations.”

 

*****

 

Stiles sat by himself on his beanbag, staring at the uneven wooden floorboards of the shed.

Everything sucked.

Scott had left the day before, and Derek had been pretty much a no-show since he started dating stupid Kate Argent.  Which left Stiles sitting alone in a room in the middle of the woods.

He’d thought about not even going out to the woods that day, but he felt like he would scream if he walked in on _one more_ whispered conversation between his parents.  They’d shoot anxious looks at Stiles – and not expect him to notice all the weirdness.  He didn’t know what he’d done wrong, but it must have been bad.  Plus, his mom had the flu _again_.   That was probably his fault too.

Stiles curled up on the beanbag and decided he’d just get some sleep.  At least then he didn’t have to worry about anything.

 

*****

 

Derek felt horrible.  Guilty and horrible.

He’d practically ignored one of his best friends for the entire summer, trying to desperately prove he wasn’t a ‘freak’.  And he hated himself for it.  Then with what had happened that afternoon…

Derek flashed back to an hour ago, when he’d been walking down the street with Kate and a couple of guys from the swim team.

 

_“Who’s that freak?” Kate asked.  Derek looked and saw Stiles waving at him from across the street.  It had only been a couple of weeks since he’d last seen him, but Stiles looked…older.  Even from the slight distance between them, Derek could see the black marks under his eyes._

_“Oh, that’s one of Derek’s little boyfriends,” Matt replied nastily._

_“It’s nobody,” Derek said as he ignored Stiles and began to walk faster down the street._

_“Look!  The little weirdo’s crying.”  Derek’s head shot up at Matt’s words.  He turned back to where Stiles had been standing – but he was gone._

 

Derek clenched his fists, remembering what he’d done.  He couldn’t believe he’d hurt a friend – he’d hurt _Stiles_ – for…what?  A girl who he couldn’t care less about; guys he hated more than anything?  For popularity?  Just to fit in?  He’d decided right then and there that he was done with all the fake crap – and then had to spend the next half an hour giving Kate the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech.

Running as fast as he could, Derek headed to their hideout – but Stiles wasn’t there.  Which was why he was currently creeping up to the Stilinski’s back fence.

As he got closer, he spied Stiles picking flowers from the garden beside the porch steps.  Derek was about to call out to him, when his friend straightened up…and Derek’s heart constricted tightly in his chest.

He’d never seen such… _sadness_.  And the fact that he was seeing it now – on S _tiles_ ’ face – it made Derek want to punch something.  Probably himself for being the cause of it.

Suddenly, Stiles plastered on a huge – fake – smile and turned to face the house.  Derek glanced up to see the back door opening and Mrs. Stilinski step out.

Oh.

Okay.

He hadn’t seen Stiles’ mom since – _wow_ , it was just before Stiles’ birthday.  Derek and Scott had gone to her to ask if it was okay to have a surprise sleepover at their hideout, the night before the actual birthday party.  She’d agreed, but the Sheriff had insisted on coming out and checking the building.  Derek had never mentioned the fact that he’d woken up a few times in the night to see Mr. Stilinski’s face at the window, or saw the light from a tent a few yards away when Derek had gone out to pee.

But that had been months ago, and the woman that he was looking at now was nothing like the woman back then.  The only word that Derek could use to describe her was _disappearing_.  Her body looked like it was slowly shrinking away until there was nothing left; her bones stuck out prominently against her pale skin.

As Stiles handed his mother the small bunch of yellow flowers, Derek slowly backed away into the woods.  This moment was not for him.

 

*****

 

Weeks passed.  Scott came home.  Derek apologized for being an absolute ass.

But Stiles had not returned to the hideout in the woods.  His afternoons were spent sitting on his mother’s hospital bed; her new favourite thing to do was to make Stiles come up with stories for the photo album he had made his dad help him put together.

When his parents finally told him that his mom was dying, Stiles had locked himself in his room for almost a day.  He spent most of that time just being angry – angry that his mother was being taken away from him, angry that his parents had taken so long to tell him, angry at himself because he’d spent ten minutes praying as hard as he could that it was really _Scott’s_ mom that was dying – not his.

And then he’d looked around his room – at all the posters and old toys – and realized this was the only Stiles his mom would ever know.  She wouldn’t know the Stiles who went to prom and embarrassed himself by dancing _way_ too enthusiastically; she wouldn’t know the Stiles who graduated from high school and leaped for joy when he got his diploma.

So, Stiles did what he was good at - he planned.  He got his dad to help him get outfits and take pictures of Stiles at various times in his future life.  The prom.  Graduation.  The year he dropped out of college and moved back in with his dad.  The day the President of the United States gave him a medal for just being the ‘awesomest’ version of himself.

Anything that Stiles thought up, he and his dad would capture that craziness in a photo.  He pretended not to notice the times his dad would silently cry while he took the picture – Stiles needed to make sure everything looked as happy as possible.  These were for his _mom_.

And she had loved them, but her favourite part was the stories he had concocted to go with each more and more outlandish picture.   So, that’s what Stiles did every afternoon – entertaining his mom with his future exploits.  That was something he _could_ do.

 

*****

 

Derek and Scott spent their afternoons sitting in the middle of the woods, both hyper aware of the empty beanbag where Stiles should have been.

 

*****

 

Derek ran hard through the rain; barely missing the tree roots that seemed determined to leave him sprawled out on the muddy ground.  He’d been expecting the call from Scott for weeks now – Stiles’ mom had died.  What he hadn’t expected was the Sheriff taking the phone off of Scott and asking Derek to please go check on his son.  Apparently, Stiles and his dad had had a huge fight and Stiles had run off.

There was only one place he would go.

Derek pushed open the door of the shed and his eyes immediately went to the boy that was sitting on the cold wooden floor.  Stiles was covered in mud, a little scratched up and clutching a wet and dirty piece of fabric.  Derek walked over and slid his back down the wall to sit beside him.

He looked over to see that the material that Stiles was holding seemed to be red – it was his old cape.  The cape Mrs. Stilinski had made all those years ago – that had given Stiles the great feeling of invincibility to jump off of the roof of their hideout.  Derek hadn’t seen it in a long time.

He didn’t know what to say, so he just sat there – waiting.  The two boys sat side by side, their wet bodies shivering slightly in the cool night air.

Stiles stared fixedly at his cape, tears running down his face.  His broken voice finally cut through the silence.  “Where is my superhero, Derek?”

Derek’s breath caught in his throat at the absolute devastation he could hear in his friend’s voice.  Stiles finally tore his gaze away from the cape to look directly in Derek’s eyes.  “I mean, I always thought that _I_ was the hero…but I let my mom die,” he choked out.  “I really just want my superhero to come right now and fix this.  _Please, Derek_.”

Tears began to fall down Derek’s face as he heard the begging tone in Stiles’ voice; he had no words for this.  No words to make any of this better.

All he could do was place his hand under Stiles’ trembling one.  Their palms shared each other’s warmth, as their fingers slowly tangled together.  Both boys squeezed tightly for a moment before relaxing their grip, and allowed their joined hands to rest on Stiles’ knee.

Derek stroked his thumb gently across Stiles’ index finger in a constant, soothing motion.  He couldn’t be the superhero that Stiles was looking for, but he could be the person who stayed right beside him.  That was all _he_ could do.


	3. Chapter 3

_Scott and Stiles – 16; Derek – 18_

 

 “I think I’m just gonna rely on my natural talent to make the team,” panted Scott as he dropped on his back on the leafy ground, droplets of sweat covered his face.

“You mean your ability to warm the bench with your ass?  Yeah, that talent will shine out nice and bright,” Derek quipped, rolling his eyes as Stiles limped up and collapsed face down beside his friend.

His muffled voice wheezed out, “Don’t listen to him, bro,” to Scott, before he painfully turned his body over to squint up at Derek’s skeptical look.   “I don’t think the ‘Hale Obstacle Course of Torture and Despair’ is what we had in mind when-“ Stiles was interrupted by a sharp, stabbing pain in his thigh.  “Ow, ow, ow!  Cramp, cramp!”

Derek quickly crouched down and reached out to massage the obviously spasming muscle.  He frowned when Stiles flinched away from his touch.

“I got it,” Stiles grumbled, kneading his thigh with his fingers.  Derek sat back a little way a way and just watched.

It was the beginning of summer…the _last_ summer before Derek would be leaving for college – and Stiles’ head was just a mess of confusion and conflicted emotions.  He had known the day was coming – and he was _way_ beyond proud that Derek had gotten into his first choice college – but it wasn’t until he watched Derek walk across the stage and get his diploma that it all become _real_.  Derek was leaving.  Was leaving him.

Sure, it was only two hours away but with his new college friends and freedom, Stiles couldn’t see any reason why Derek would want to come home and spend time with a couple of high-school kids.  It made Stiles’ chest tighten just thinking about it…and then he got angry with himself for being so stupid.  _Scott_ didn’t seem to be having a freak-out about Derek leaving; actually he was excited – if all the talk about college parties and road-trips was anything to go by.  So, it was only him and _his_ idiotic brain.

“Do you guys wanna grab a pizza and hang at my place?” Scott asked, still lying flat on his back, his breath slowly getting back to normal.

“Can’t.  Grandparents are in town, gotta do the whole family dinner thing tonight,” Derek answered while he eyed Stiles’ hands where he was still idly rubbing his thigh, even though the pain had gone.

“Looks like it’ll be just you and me, buddy.  That means anchovy- _free_ pizza for once,” Stiles joked, hopefully hiding his disappointment.  Although, by the searching way Derek looked at him, he obviously hadn’t been completely successful.

“I…I could maybe come by after dinner…I mean…if you guys are going to make it an all-night thing.”

“If you want.  I told Dad I’d be home by seven, so enjoy doing whatever you guys do when I’m not around – I’ve always imagined it involved comparing hair-gel brands and ab workouts,” Stiles replied impudently.  His Dad probably wouldn’t care if he spent the night at Scott’s, but the thought of Derek sleeping beside him in their usual spots on Scott’s floor…well, it made his skin itch just thinking about it.

“Oh, okay.  Yeah, I should probably stay home too.  What with the grandparents being there…” Derek finished awkwardly.

Scott rolled his eyes as he slowly stood up and stretched.  “The two of you are idiots.”  He brushed some leaves off of his back and ignored the questioning looks from his two friends on the ground.

 

*****

 

Derek marched determinedly through the woods.  This was it.  He was going to do it.  He was going to tell Stiles how he felt.  He had a plan – he’d ask Scott to give them some privacy and then he’d give Stiles his present.  Derek looked down at the gift in his hand; it made his heart hurt a little to part with it, the cape that Stiles had made him so long ago, but it was the only thing that Derek could think of to show Stiles that even though he was moving away, the most important part of him was still there in Beacon Hills.

Derek wasn’t an idiot; he knew Stiles had been slowly pulling away from him all summer.  It’s what Stiles did – reject things before they could reject him.  And Derek couldn’t take it anymore.  For a long time – years even – he’d known that the way he felt about Stiles was completely different to the way he felt about Scott.

It wasn’t Scott’s house he had run to when he’d gotten his acceptance letter; it wasn’t Scott’s face he had looked for in the crowd when he’d gotten his diploma; it wasn’t Scott’s smile that made Derek’s heart skip a beat; it wasn’t Scott’s skin that he’d spent sleepless nights imagining stroking with his fingers; it wasn’t Scott’s lips he wanted to kiss, to suck, to slide his tongue across. 

It was Stiles.  It was _always_ Stiles.

Even though he had been pining after his best friend, Derek would have continued – gone to _college_ – without saying anything, if it hadn’t been for a moment two days ago.  It still seemed like a dream – he hoped fervently that it wasn’t – that he’d woken up after a late-night movie marathon to Stiles carefully tracing a line from Derek’s cheek and down his jaw line.  Just a continuous movement that almost lulled him back to sleep if it hadn’t been for Stiles hitting him on the nose, startled by the Sheriff making his way into the kitchen to make breakfast.  Derek had forced himself to keep his eyes closed, his mind a swirling mess of hope, want and uncertainty.

After a sleepless night staring at his bedroom ceiling, the uncertainty had disappeared, leaving the hope and the want behind.  He had to do something and he had to do it now.

Derek stopped outside the door of their ‘secret hideout’ and took a deep, trembling breath.  It was supposed to calm him down, but the hand that held his cape was shaking like crazy.  Damn it, maybe there was still just a little uncertainty in his head.

He pushed open the door to find only one of his friends sitting by himself with a magazine resting on his chest. 

Scott straightened up, took in the questioning look on Derek’s face and the old piece of cloth in his hand.  “Crap.  He didn’t call you, did he?”  The guy didn’t wait for an answer before he continued, “Of course he didn’t.  Or you wouldn’t be here looking like you were about to do what I think you were about to do…what _one_ of you should have done _ages_ ago.”

Derek ignored his friend’s rambling to ask, “Where’s Stiles?”

“Obviously ignoring something until it goes away,” sighed Scott.  “He talked his dad into using the rest of the Sheriff’s vacation time to go on a father-son road trip.  Stiles said he was going to say goodbye to you before he left.”

Derek dropped into his beanbag, mind and heart racing.  “They just decided on a spur-of-a-moment trip and left?”

“You know Stilinskis.  Once they set their minds on something-“

“When are they coming back?” Derek interrupted, pretty certain of what the answer was going to be.  The look on Scott’s face confirmed it.

“He said about two weeks.  But, hey, ‘about two weeks’ can totally mean less than that, right?  I’m sure that’s what he meant.”

Two weeks.  Derek left for college in eleven days.  Stiles had definitely made his point.

Scott hopped up, moved his beanbag beside Derek’s and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.  “He’ll be back, Derek.  I know he will.”

“Yeah, he will.  As soon as _I’m_ gone,” Derek muttered as he traced a finger around the faded letter ‘D’ Stiles had scrawled on the back of his cape.  Scott followed the movement for a second.

“He’s not handling it well.  You leaving, I mean.”

“And I am?!”  Derek spat out, angrily.  “ _I’m_ the one leaving my home, my friends, my family.  How selfish can he be?”

“I know, okay.  What he’s doing is really shitty.  But you must know how much he-“

“Don’t,” Derek said as he shrugged Scott’s hand off of his shoulder.  “I know you really want to defend Stiles, and maybe tomorrow I’ll listen, but right now can we just talk about how much of an asshole he is?  Okay?”  Thankfully, Scott did the good friend thing and totally ignored the way his voice broke on the final syllable.

“Okay.  You know he’s _never_ let me have the toy in the cereal box.  Ever.  That’s a _total_ asshole move right there.  Right?”

“Definitely a total asshole move,” Derek answered, half-heartedly.

Without hope, he was discovering that want was a painful son-of-a-bitch.

 

*****

 

Three days to go.  Stiles had been gone for just over a week and Derek had been constantly alternating between feeling angry and feeling hurt.  Hurt that he was leaving in three days and the person he most wanted to see was avoiding him. 

And that meant also feeling sentimental and sad.  Which was why he was once again traipsing through the woods, cape in hand, prepared to spend a few hours curled up on a beanbag and do some heavy-duty moping.

Derek really preferred the days he was angry.

As he walked up to the shed, he saw flashes of moments play out in his mind.  Right on that spot over there was where he and Scott had stood while they watched Stiles take a flying leap off of the roof.  Just to the left of that was where Scott had thrown up the sixteen Snickers bars they’d dared him to eat.  Right behind that tree was where he and Stiles had hidden after they’d decided to take the Sheriff’s patrol car without permission and they’d gotten a flat tire.  Pressed up close against Stiles’ back, nose resting gently on his neck, Derek had realized at that moment that his attraction to his friend might be more than just a little bit sexual.

Usually these memories made Derek smile, now they just made his chest ache.

But nothing compared to the feeling he felt when he pushed open the door and there was Stiles.  Just sitting on Derek’s beanbag, like he’d never been away.  In his hands was the red cape his mom had made him and he looked at Derek like _he_ was the one who had just up and left without even saying a word.

Derek’s heart was beating so hard and fast in his chest, he couldn’t focus properly.  He wanted to pour his anger out at the guy in front of him, but his traitorous brain decided it wanted to feel both upset and happy.  Overjoyed even.  Stupid brain.

“I didn’t think I’d see you before I left,” Derek tried to say as calmly as possible, but even he could hear the way his voice shook on every word.

“I didn’t think you would, either,” Stiles answered, looking down at his cape.

“And you could do that?  Just let me go without a word, like I didn’t even matter,” Derek fractured voice rushed out.  He really, really did _not_ want to cry right now.

Stiles eyes shot up, first taking in the poorly made cape clutched in Derek’s hand and then moved up to his face.  Without a word, Stiles stood up and took a step towards him.  Derek held his breath, trembling, until they were standing toe to toe.

The younger man studied him carefully, and then took the small red cape and reached over to place it over Derek’s back.  Derek let out a shaky breath as Stiles’ long fingers clumsily tied the string around his neck and let his hands linger on his collarbone – a light stroking touch.

They did nothing but stare intently at each other for a minute – fingers still gliding gently across Derek’s skin – before Stiles finally summoned up the courage to break the silence.  “You were always my superhero, you know.”  Derek’s eyes widened slightly.  “You were always there when I needed you…And I’m not really sure what I’m gonna do when you’re not _here_.” Stiles pulled his hands away from Derek, wiped them over his eyes and then let them fall nervously down to his side.

Derek felt like electricity was being shot through his entire body, and his emotions were just a mess.  He was angry that Stiles had left, he was happy that Stiles was back, he was sad that he had to leave – but most of all he was hoping to God that he wasn’t wrong in thinking that Stiles felt that same way about him as he did about Stiles.

He slowly raised his own cape – the one that Stiles had made for _him_ ; that had made him feel like the superhero he _knew_ he wasn’t – and carefully tied it around Stiles’ neck.  Derek allowed himself to trace a path from the hollow of Stiles’ throat to the mole near his left ear.  He cupped the back of his head as his thumb stroked the soft skin of his neck.

“You were always your own hero, Stiles.  And mine.  I need you to know that I will always be here for _you_ …and I want you to be here for _me_ ,” Derek whispered, feeling Stiles’ heavy, shaky breaths on his face.

Taking a final, nervous glance into amber eyes, Derek leaned forward and carefully placed his mouth over Stiles’.  It only lasted a second – a soft, hesitant slide of lips – before Derek pulled back a little, lightly caressing Stiles’ nose with his own.  He waited.

Stiles raised a trembling hand to Derek’s face – traced lightly over his lips – and then slid it to the back of his neck.  It was Derek’s turn to shake as Stiles moved his face closer and kissed away the tear that had fallen down Derek’s cheek.  He didn’t even know he’d been crying.

And then their lips met again and this time Derek let Stiles take the lead.  It was still soft and slow, until he felt Stiles’ tongue nervously touch the crease of his mouth and then disappear.  Derek lightly scraped his teeth across Stiles’ bottom lip, capturing it, lightly sucking it until Stiles let out a tiny whimpering moan.  Then all hesitancy was gone, and Stiles slid his tongue right into Derek’s mouth, allowing it to slide deliciously and suggestively against his own.

As they broke the kiss, Derek gave Stiles’ lips one final nibble, before they rested their foreheads together – hot breaths panted out of both of their mouths as they held each other tight.

Derek closed his eyes and just took everything in – the feeling of Stiles’ skin pressed against his own, his fingers stroking over the back of Stiles’ neck, even the sound of the wind lowly whistling through the cracked wooden boards of the old shed.

Their shed.  Their secret hideout.  He’d come to this place, years ago, looking for a little peace and quiet…what it gave him was _Stiles._


End file.
